


Pieces of the Past

by 15th_of_SunsDusk



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-18
Updated: 2014-10-18
Packaged: 2018-02-21 16:52:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2475485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/15th_of_SunsDusk/pseuds/15th_of_SunsDusk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tauriel has led a rather normal life, as far as Dunmer go. She grew up in a small mining village on the outskirts Blacklight, the capital of Morrowind. Her father was a miner, her mother a merchant. She had two older brothers, Favathyn and Baraethran, and a younger sister, Selvvane. The boys did the majority of the hunting, while the girls did most of the housework. It was a nice life she led, but that was all going to change for the worst.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pieces of the Past

It was a quiet day, the 21st of First Seed. Tauriel watched as her sister, Selvvane, made a necklace out of gold kanet petals, which were her favorite kind of flower.  
“Look, Tauriel! I’m making this for mother.” She beamed.  
“I’m sure she’ll appreciate it very much. It’s very beautiful.”  
“It’s for Hogithum.”  
“But mother isn’t a priestess.”  
“I know. But it’s still a holiday.”  
“True. Are you going to make one for me?” She watched as Selvvane mulled over the necklace.  
“But of course! You are the most beautiful Dark Elven maid in all of Morrowind! I will make you a necklace that is just as beautiful.” She said in the most adorable voice. They hear a loud crash outside, and both girls look up.  
“I wonder what’s going on.” Tauriel pondered aloud as she stood up. Selvvane began to walk towards the window, but Tauriel pulled her back. “Selvvane, stay back.” Outside, Dunmer were fleeing. But fleeing from what?  
It all happened so fast. Her brothers barged through the door, slamming it shut.  
“Hide! Hide!” Baraethran yelled while pushing the bookcase in front of the door, barricading it.  
“Baraethran, what is going on?”  
“There’s no time. You have to hide now.” Favathyn grabbed a hold of her arm, pulling her towards a cupboard. He had a sword in his free hand.  
“Selvvane.” Tauriel grabbed for her sister and crawled into the cupboard.  
“Stay here. Do not open these doors for anyone until it is safe. And no matter what, look after her.” Favathyn warned. “I love you, my sisters.”  
“I love you, too, my brothers.” Tauriel and Selvvane whispered in unison. Favathyn closed the cupboard doors, leaving the girls in darkness, while their father snuck into the house through the back door.  
“Where are the girls?” He asked.  
“They are hidden.” Baraethran nodded towards the cupboard.  
“Good.”  
“How many are there?” Favathyn asked.  
“I don’t know. I lost count. Have you seen your mother?” both boys shook their heads. He nodded. “I see. She is a strong woman. She will be just fine.” Just then, they heard a loud bang. Someone was trying to get through the door. The boys and their father readied themselves.  
In the cupboard, Tauriel was silently comforting her whimpering sister. Selvvane had clutched her necklace to her chest. Tauriel whispered to her.  
“Hush, my sister. It will be alright.” The strangers finally broke through the door, knocking the bookcase over. “Everything will be alright.” She could hear yelling and the clank of weapons colliding. Through the crack of the cupboard’s doors, she watched as her father and brothers desperately fought to defend their home, only to fall. “It will be alright.”  
  
An hour passed, or maybe two. She couldn’t tell. It felt like it had been a lifetime. Tauriel looked through the crack again. It was quiet. The sounds from outside were distant. She opened the doors slowly, keeping a sharp eye for anything that moved.  
“Stay.” She warned Selvvane. She turned and slowly walked towards her fallen family. She reached out to touch her father’s shoulder, but she was startled back. His body was cold, and there was so much blood. Selvanne’s tiny voice snapped Tauriel back to reality.  
“Papa?”  
“Selvvane, I told you to stay.”  
“What’s wrong with papa? And Favathyn? And Baraethran? Tauriel, what’s wrong with them? Why is there so much blood?” Tauriel pulled her into her arms and held her.  
“They’re asleep. They’re going to be sleeping for a long time. Just like Daisy is asleep.” She mentioned Selvvane’s pet goat that passed a few months back.  
“But where’s—”  
“We have to go.” Tauriel cut her short. Wrapping a cowl over Selvvane’s head, she opened the front door and peeked out, making sure there were no other bandits around. They then scurried their way towards the market, keeping close to the edge of houses. When they arrived, they stopped dead in their tracks. Bodies lay everywhere. Mutilated remains were piled on top of each other.  
“Dark Goddess, protect us!” She exclaimed. She looked around in shock, then pulled a bag from behind one of the market stalls. “Let’s grab some food for the road."  
“For the road? But—”  
“Selvvane, do not question me. You have to listen and follow my word. Do you understand?” the younger sister nodded. “Good. Now take this bag and grab as much food as you can stuff in there.”  
Tauriel wandered about the market, looking over all the bodies. ‘I knew these people.’ She thought to herself. Then, she caught eye of a familiar fabric. She scrambled over to the fabric and tugged. The body rolled over, and Tauriel almost choked. It was their mother.  
“Tauriel, I think I got as much as I could.” Selvvane began trotting over. Tauriel quickly rolled her mother’s body back over, collecting herself.  
“Good. Let’s go now.” She took Selvvane’s hand and pulled her along hastily out of the village and into the forests. Tauriel was quiet, despite the multitude of questions Selvvane threw her way.  
“Where is momma? Where are we going? Will we meet up with momma there?”  
“Selvvane, sweetie, mother has gone to sleep, too. I know of a place we can go where we won’t have too much trouble fitting in.”  
“Where is that?”  
“Solstheim. Remember uncle Teldryn?” Teldryn Sero. Father's friend. He had left Morrowind to do some adventuring. Last they had heard, his patron had basically committed suicide and he had taken residency in Raven Rock.  
“Teldryn?”  
“You may be too young to remember him. He was a strapping man. Very sure and very adventurous. You may have heard father talking about him.”  
“Does Tauriel have a crush?”  
“I have no such thing. I just know he will be more than willing to help us.” If he is still there. Selvvane had her eyes downcast. “What are you thinking about?”  
“Well… I want to go to Skyrim.”  
“Skyrim? Of all the places, why there? They’re in the middle of a civil war!”  
“I know but I hear it’s so pretty.”  
“Sorry, young one. I’ve already decided. We'll be able to fit in better.”  
“I understand.” Murmured Selvvane kicking the dirt a bit.  
  
After a while of travelling, they stumbled upon a large group of bandits. They had sinful intentions in their eyes. They quickly grabbed a hold of Selvvane, but she fought. She bit down on one of the bandits’ arms, and he cried out. Two other bandits grabbed her by the arms and pushed her to her knees. Tauriel screamed for them to let her go and take her instead. She was pounding her fists against the bandits’ shoulders, trying desperately to pull instead. Two more bandits grabbed her and pulled her back. The one bandit, obviously the bandit chief, was lurking between the two girls, wearing a sinister grin. He looked at Tauriel dead in the eye, pulled his dagger from his belt, gave it a twirl and swung around hard and fast, slicing Selvanne’s neck wide open. Time stopped. Tauriel stared in disbelief as she watched her kid sister’s lifeless body hit the ground. The bandit chief was readying his dagger again, but he had released a beast from within. Tauriel screamed out in rage and agony, pulling her arms from the bandits grasps, hurling them to the ground. She threw herself at the bandit chief. He swung his fist at her, but she stopped it mid-swing, smacking his arm at the joint, and ripping the axe from his hip. She then kicked him hard in his stomach, and slammed the axe straight down into his skull. The other bandits stared at her, not making a move. When she turned towards them, her eyes were glowing with rage. Not a single one of them survived.  
When she came to, she was standing in the midst of a pile of corpses, blood soaking her furs. Realization hit, and she doubled over, vomiting. After the contents of her stomach were emptied, she grabbed her sister’s lifeless body, and sobbed into the forest.  
Hours passed before Tauriel found the strength to drag Selvvane’s body off the path to a small dirt patch, and surrounded her with kindle and flowers. She quickly made a floral crown from nearby Heather and placed it around her head in a sort of burial ritual. She pulled the gold kanet necklace from around Selvvane’s neck as a keepsake, and as a reminder. She made a crude urn out of clay, and set the kindle ablaze.  
  
She let a few more days pass before she couldn’t bear the hunger anymore. ‘I cannot keep going on like this. Selvanne would punish me for it.’ The thought brought on more tears, but she quickly wiped them away. She found a bow and several arrows on one of the bandits, though she hadn’t the slightest clue how to use them. Her brothers had always been the hunters of the family. Bows were always the weapon of choice whenever the boys went hunting. ‘What better time to learn?’ she thought to herself. So she slung the bow over her shoulder and carried the arrows. She picked out a suitable tree, readied the arrow, pulled the bowstring back as far as her strength would allow, and released the arrow. It whizzed past the tree, and the arrow’s tail feathers sliced her forearm.  
“Ah!” she hissed at herself as she began rummaging through the bandit’s packs, trying to find something to treat the wound. She didn’t know any healing spells. In fact, she didn’t know much of anything. She had only seen 20 winters and her father never let her or Selvvane stray too far from the house. After a while of practicing, she felt confident enough to try her luck with an animal. She found a deer and stalked it around for a while. When it stopped, she crouched low, readied an arrow, and shot it straight into the deer’s neck. Along with not knowing how to hunt, she also did not know how to skin the animal and cut the meats. She decided to maul the carcass using a knife she found. Just as she was about to jab the deer, a voice called out.  
“You don’t want to do that, traveler.” Tauriel turned around to find the owner of the voice. It was an Imperial hunter.  
“But this is exactly what I want to do.” She protested. The hunter chuckled.  
“No, you want to make sure you don’t eat what that deer ate - or worse.” Tauriel made a face that made the Imperial’s smile widen. “Here. Let me give you a hand.” Tauriel looked at him warily, unsure if to trust him or not. "What? I'm only trying to help." her eyes flicked to his weapon. He noticed. He took his weapon from his belt and carefully laid it in front of her, then raised his hands. "It's okay. I won't hurt you." Tauriel's shoulders relaxed a little and she nodded at him. He took the knife and carefully skinned the pelt and gutted the carcass, teaching her easier methods. “It doesn’t have to be difficult, you just got to know how to work your blade.” Tauriel silently watched his hands. The hunter studied her, the way her eyes watched his every movement. She was timid and withdrawn, and on full alert. Then, he caught her eyes. “Can I ask?” he said pointing to her clothes. Her features set and her eyes glazed over. She sat stock still staring him down. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. If you don’t want to tell, I won’t ask. You just look... dreadful. Like you’ve seen the end of the world, and it wasn’t pretty.” Her features softened slightly, and she shook her head at him. He raised his hands. “Alright then. At least let me get you some clean clothes. You can trade me this pelt for it. And the antlers for some supplies.” She nodded.  
The Imperial stuffed a bundle of supplies into a make-shift pack for her, throwing in some of his own cooked foods and bandages, and a pouch of coin. He looked on while she struggled to make a camp.  
“You make a lousy fire, elf.” He muttered while shifting over to her side, taking the flint stones from her hands. “Here. You’ve got to angle the stones a certain way. Always strike the stones away from you.” He handed her the stones and watched as she copied his movements. He threw a few larger sticks into the fire, and sets stones around it. “Always make sure you lay stones around it. It helps keep the fire from spreading. Also, never light a fire on grass. Make sure you’re always on a patch of dirt or rocks.” She nodded.  
After a few moments of silence, watching the fire, he looked at her.  
“You don’t talk much.” She looked up at him.  
“No, I suppose not.” She said quietly. He feigned surprise.  
“She speaks!” he laughed when he saw a faint smile cross her lips. “That’s more like it. I like the quiet, I admit. That’s why I hunt. But sometimes, the silence is deafening. Sometimes, I wish I had some company. And here you are.” She smiled softly at him.  
“I am sorry. A lot has happened in the last several days. It has been… difficult, to say the least.” She spoke quietly.  
“Well, granted you’ve only known me for a few hours, but I am all ears. Hunters hear quite a bit out of travelers when they stop by. I’d be more than willing to listen. Maybe offer some advice.”  
She mulled over this for a moment. “My name is Tauriel Ormandu.”  
He looked at her and smiled. “Nice to meet you, Tauriel. My name is Amasius Chentilius. I am from - you guessed it - Cyrodiil. Not very exciting.”  
“I’m from here in Morrowind."  
“I never would have guessed” he chuckled.  
“Where I'm from, it was a nice village. I lived in a small mining village in the Highlands just outside of Blacklight with my family. My father was a miner, my mother a merchant. I had two older brothers. They were the hunters of the family, obviously." he grinned at her. "I also had a younger sister.” She cast her eyes down and shifted uncomfortably.  
“What happened?”  
“Our village was attacked by bandits. My sister and I hid while my father and brothers defended our home the best they could. But there were too many. We stayed hidden for a while until I felt it was safe. Then, we snuck out and made our way through the market, where we found out mother among the lifeless bodies.”  
“Oh, divines, you’ve been to Oblivion and back. Where is your sister?”  
“We made it out of the village. Selvvane wanted to go to Skyrim. But, I told her we were going to make our way to Solstheim. It’s a dunmeri refuge north of Morrowind. We wouldn’t be outcasts.” The Imperial nodded as she spoke on. “Well, we were walking and then suddenly we were attacked by more bandits.”  
“By the Nine. You've had it rough."  
“The Bandit chief wanted to exploit our woman-hood.” The hunter’s eyes widened. “I tried to fight, but his henchman held me back. Instead of exploiting her, though, they...” she trailed off.  
“What did they do?”  
“They forced me to watch as they slit her throat. He turned towards me, but I…” he narrowed his eyes. “I blacked out. When I came back…” she flit her eyes towards her bloody clothes.  
“Oh…” the hunter mouthed.  
“I slaughtered them. I did that…” she whispered as a tear rolled down her cheek. The Imperial rested his hand on her shoulder.  
“Hey. Those bastards deserved it for what they did. They took your sister from you. You had every right to do so. Do not feel bad.” She walked over to her pack and pulled out the crudely-made urn.  
“This is all I have left of her. And this.” she tugged a little on the necklace around her neck. He held the urn and looked it over, then pulled a few flowers from his pack and handed them to her.  
“Here - to decorate it. I bet she was just as beautiful as you, and her urn should be shown as such.” her eyes glistened and she took the flowers from his hands.  
“Thank you, Amasius.” She wet the sides of the jar and set the stems in place. She smiled up at him.  
“It’s beautiful. This is very kind of you.” He smiled back. Tauriel yawned.  
“Hey, I have an extra bedroll. You’ve had a long few days. Go ahead and take a rest. I'll keep watch.” He prepared the bedroll under a tent and offered it to her. She thanked him, and then crawled in, welcoming the long-lost slumber.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work posted. Please leave suggestions or reviews to help me. If I get enough positive feedback, I'll post more. Please, enjoy :)


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